Virus and host genes involved in re-programming of macrophage transcription in response to high and low virulence African swine fever virus isolates

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We will study African swine fever virus (ASFV), which causes major losses to farmers in Africa and is a threat to pig farming worldwide. The virus codes for proteins, called evasion proteins, which help it to evade the host's defence systems and avoid being eliminated from the host. In our previous work we showed that ASFV evasion proteins prevent the host from switching on its defence genes. We compared two virus strains, one (high virulence) which kills 100 per cent of infected pigs and one (low virulence) which does not kill pigs but can infect pigs for long periods without causing disease. The high virulence isolate was more effective at switching-off host defence genes than the low virulence isolate as we predicted. In this project we will identify which of the proteins from the high virulence isolate switch-off host defence genes. We will also study other host proteins that are switched-on following virus infection to understand their role in pathogenesis and evasion.